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Frontiers in Educational Research, 2026, 9(8); doi: 10.25236/FER.2026.090807.

Designing an Interdisciplinary Project‑Based Learning Unit of TCM‑Derived Mosquito‑Repellent Herbs for Primary School Science: Implementation and Practice

Author(s)

Jiandong Jiang

Corresponding Author:
Jiandong Jiang
Affiliation(s)

Guangxi Minzu Normal University, Chongzuo, Guangxi, 532200, China

Abstract

Upper-primary students (grades 4–6) spent five class hours making and testing a mosquito repellent from traditional Chinese medicinal herbs; this paper describes how that interdisciplinary project-based learning (PjBL) unit was designed and taught. The unit grew out of China's 2022 curriculum reform, which asks every subject to set aside time for interdisciplinary thematic learning, and it drew science, mathematics, history, and language arts together around the ordinary nuisance of summer mosquito bites. A four-stage inquiry sequence adapted from the 5E model—phenomenon tracing, evidence-based reasoning, empirical investigation, and conclusion verification—guided the small-group work. Students' worksheets, experimental records, and classroom observations show that they learned to frame testable hypotheses, run experiments with controlled variables, graph quantitative data, and explain unexpected results, and that they came to see a custom such as hanging mugwort at the Dragon Boat Festival as having an empirical basis. The unit template and assessment rubric presented here can be adapted by other primary science teachers, although the sample was small and the measurement was not highly rigorous.

Keywords

Interdisciplinary Learning, Project-Based Learning, Scientific Thinking, Primary Science, Traditional Chinese Medicine

Cite This Paper

Jiandong Jiang. Designing an Interdisciplinary Project‑Based Learning Unit of TCM‑Derived Mosquito‑Repellent Herbs for Primary School Science: Implementation and Practice. Frontiers in Educational Research (2026), Vol. 9, Issue 8: 49-55. https://doi.org/10.25236/FER.2026.090807.

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